Smith: "It's a disgrace Angel Cabrera is at The Masters this week"

Angel Cabrera is causing quite a stir at the 2025 Masters, isn't he?

I have to say, when I heard the 2009 green jacket winner was going to tee it up this year I wasn't as quick as others in rushing to judgement. 

I thought it was best to wait and hear from the man himself or even Augusta National before offering my thoughts. 

I believe in rehabilitation and in offering second chances to those that commit very serious offences.

But after hearing what Cabrera had to say earlier in the week and reading between the lines from the complete wall of silence from the green jackets I've made up my mind.

Angel Cabrera should be nowhere near The Masters and it's downright shameful he should be allowed to waltz back through the door as if nothing happened. 

Don't know about you, but seeing Cabrera grinning from ear-to-ear at the past champions' dinner on Tuesday evening made me feel a bit sick. 

Lots of people make mistakes and lose their liberty. Lots of people ask for forgiveness. Lots of people are remorseful. 

But ask yourself, do you believe that your current employer would offer you the same second chance had you been convicted of battering women?

Absolutely not. 

Angel Cabrera has served his time and I'm not saying he shouldn't be allowed to live his life quietly. 

But that is all that should be extended to Cabrera and he should be miles away from one of the world's premiere sporting events.

Because The Masters is more than just a golf tournament. 

It is played on the sacred grounds of Augusta National and it supposed to be a celebration of excellence, tradition and the highest standards of integrity. 

So the very idea that a domestic abuser should be welcomed back is not just wrong but an absolute bloody disgrace. 

Angel Cabrera was not falsely accused. He was convicted of appalling acts after going on the run to try and escape justice. 

Take a look these comments made by one his victims and ask yourself whether or not he is worthy a spot in the field this week:

"From the beginning of our relationship, Ángel called me constantly asking where I was and what I was doing. 

"Within months of starting the relationship, the attacks, insults, and threats began.

"I couldn't go to the supermarket or the gym. 

"Ángel always believed I was going to be with another man. He followed me and took my cellphone. 

"When he traveled, I would stay at my house, and when he returned, I went to his. We were rarely apart at the beginning of the relationship.

"Ángel forbade me from seeing my brother Cristian because he worried Cristian would introduce me to a friend. 

"From the moment he met my family, he would not let me see them. I could not visit my mom, who was dying of cancer, because I might meet someone else.

"Sometimes, Ángel would video call me when he was on tour, and I had to show him where I was and who I was with. I began to feel very anxious and suffocated.

"He made me do very kinky things and hit me if I refused. 

"If Ángel was with his friends in a meeting, I had to be in the bedroom without an Internet connection. It was very humiliating. - Cecilia Torres Mana (Via Orato)

The trauma that he inflicted on his former partners will be with them for the rest of their lives. 

How does Cabrera sleep at night?

Augusta National has long struggled with issues of exclusion, image, and reform. 

Permitting Cabrera's return is a giant step backwards. 

This decision endangers The Masters from a tournament of meaning to a hollow, tone-deaf spectacle. 

And one where skill outweighs human decency.